Hoping to break the silence surrounding injustice toward Pakistani women, the Asian American Network Against Abuse of Women hosted an event Friday featuring remarks from a Pakistani woman who was sentenced to a gang-rape in 2002 for a crime her brother committed.
In villages like that of the rape victim, Mukhtar Mai, tribal codes often take precedence over both Islamic law and Pakistan's secular law. Against the national laws, a tribal council ordered her to endure the family's blame after her brother was found in public with a girl of a rival tribe.
Today, Mai continues to talk about her experience. In a docudrama of her story, she said of her rapists, 'I want to shoot them in the heads for what they did to me.'
'This is not Islam. I'm not alone in trying to convey this. A lot of people are trying to help me,' Mai added.
Mai's situation is not uncommon in the Islamic world but, contrary to common Western belief, 'the tragedy that occurred has nothing to do with Islamic law,' UW-Madison assistant law professor Asifa Quraishi said.
Mai was sentenced in an illegal court system that exists out of feudalism in rural areas of Pakistan.
'Islamic law gives a large punishment to rape; it is not the cause of injustice here,' Quraishi said.
'What makes Mukhar unique is that she chose to speak and continues to speak,' AANA President Amna Buttar said.
Mai's rapists were tried in court and her family was awarded $8,000 in compensation. With that money, she has already opened a school in her village to promote education and has plans to open the village's first women's rape-crisis shelter.
'She is the first poor woman in Pakistan who has ever spoken out about rape and become an activist and human rights advocate,' Buttar said.
For her unprecedented efforts, Mai will receive a Woman of the Year award from Glamour Magazine in New York City in November.
Quraishi reminded attendees not to look at Mai's situation through a Western point of view.
'It's important for us to not transpose our own goals on her and get outraged; we must listen to her,' she said.
Brenda Lazarus, a UW-Madison freshman interested in global issues, attended the event.
'Her courage to speak up against what happened where it was culturally unaccepted is very inspirational,' she said of Mai. 'We're fortunate to have a hero among us. She will never be remembered as a victim, but a hero,' Buttar said.
